


Panic baby

by blue_nebulae



Series: One shot lives [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Siblings, Babysitting, Big Brothers, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gendry is a Baratheon, Gendry is terrified, Meltdown, Minor Arya Stark/Gendry Waters, Panic, Panic Attacks, Panicking, Pre-Relationship, Romantic Friendship, Sibling Bonding, Siblings, scared gendry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-23
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-11-04 00:56:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10979001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_nebulae/pseuds/blue_nebulae
Summary: Gendry panics as he needs to babysit his little sisters and calls Arya to save the day.





	Panic baby

As soon as she turned off the shower she could hear her phone ringing from her bedroom so she hurriedly covered herself with a towel and went to answer her phone, picking it up without bothering to look who was calling her. 

“What took you so bloody long?!!” she had to place a distance between her ear and her cellphone because Gendry was screaming on the other side.

 

“Gendry?”

 

“Arya! I need you, come over here. NOW!” and he hanged up. What on earth was happening? Gendry wasn’t one to freak out like that, but he sounded frantic on the phone like he was having a nervous breakdown or something, which freak her out so she put on the first thing she could get her hands off and bolted out, grabbing the keys of her car.

 

Just as she was leaving the driveway of her house, her phone beeped with a text.

 

“where are you?! I need you, NOW!” Hee. must really be in need of help to act like that and her heart clenched thinking of possible catastrophes. 

 

She was going on as fast as she could to Gendry’s apartment, which was 20 minutes away, drive she made in less than than that with four messages from Gendry demanding her to hurry up. Once outside his building she parked her car, went out running and took the five set of stairs because the elevator would take too long and pulled the keys he once gave her because she spent half the time at his place anyway and opened the door.

 

“Finally!” Gendry yelled as he was walking in the middle of the living room, a baby in his arms a baby who was crying very loudly.

 

“She won’t stop crying! All night she’s been crying! I tried feeding her, checked her diapers and nothing! She just won’t shut up! And I don’t know what Weasel wants, she won’t eat anything and I can’t find her! HELP ME!”

 

“What on earth?!” she was stunned. Scanning the situation, this was crisis! The baby, who she assumed was Barra, Gendry’s baby sister, was all red from crying and Weasel, his other sister, was nowhere in sight.

 

Now, Gendry’s place was a mess, it was truly a mess there were bottles, diapers, toys everywhere. And Gendry, he had the worst face ever, his clothes dirty with powder, spots of baby food and milk, his hair was a mess and he looked like he hadn’t slept in days.

 

“What are you doing standing there?! Help me!” that took her out of her stupor, rushing in taking the baby from Gendry’s arms.

 

“Have you try burping her?” she asked softly, knowing for a fact that Gendry’s screams were probably a factor in Barra’s altered state.

 

“no…”

 

“Idiot” she said softly as she took Barra, sat her upright against her chest, placing the little one’s chin to rest against her shoulder while supporting her with one hand, with the other she gently patted the baby’s back. She made the motion a few times until Barra’s finally let out a few gas.

 

“Good one! Good girl!” Ara softly said to the baby while continuing the motion as she sat on the couch. Suddenly there was a shift against her side on the couch and little Weasel appeared, dragging a little stuffed animal, and watching her with curiosity.

 

“Hey, Weasel!” she smiled and the girl smiled back. Weasel was a little girl with speech problems, not actually being able to talk which made things with her quite interesting. Mya and Bella were the ones who could handle her with ease but the problem was…

 

“Gendry, why are the girls with you?” she whispered, trying not to scare Barra who was finally calming down.

 

He was sitting down on the other couch, finally catching a break “Bella and Edric came down with mono so Mya is taking care of them since she’s the only one who’s have had it before. The doctor said the little ones should be kept away because Barra is too young and Weasel’s just recovering from the cold she caught recently. Stannis and Selyse are out of town, so they couldn’t take care of the girls like they usually do, Renly has the twins and I’m in charge of the babies but I can’t do it alone! I’ve never had Barra by myself!”

 

That explained things. Gendry had a hundred siblings. He was the eldest with 21, followed by Mya and Bella who were 20 and 17 respectively. Edric was 15 and the twins were 10, Weasel was 5 and Barra was a one-year-old baby. The Baratheons were a complicated pack, with several divorces in Robert’s behalf as he married women more irresponsible than himself, giving him the custody of his children.

 

Ever since his father passed away Mya and Gendry got custody of their siblings. With enough money to get by for their inheritances, the family business and the big house they had was enough. However, before Robert’s passing Gendry moved out and when their dad passed away Edric entered his rebellious stage and the only one who could put some sense into him was Gendry, so Edric moved in with him.

 

“Alright, I bet Weasel is hungry by now, it’s lunch hour after all. Are you hungry, little Weasel?” the little girl beside her nodded softly “you didn’t want to bother Gendry, right? That’s why you hid yourself, didn’t you? The little girl nodded again. She glared at Gendry for a second who just blushed in response. Of course a little girl would get scared if she saw her older brother acting crazy trying to handle their baby sister, Weasel was just trying to get out of the way.

 

“Alright, this is what we are going to do!” she declared and Gendry payed her full attention “Gendry, go out and get some take out for us to have lunch. Something Weasel likes, she’s the main priority, she’s in a place she’s not used too and must be stressed. Get something she likes but not something extremely greasy, maybe chicken. She liked chicken, right? or something else. Would that be okay?” she asked the girl who nodded again, a small smile appearing on her face

 

“Get some snacks, healthy ones, fruit to snack on later. Make sure Barra has enough formula or milk, diapers and all. Buy corn starch, lots to make her some compote with fruit and to use instead of powder, works better for the rash. Also, get some movies, Disney movies or any kids movies so she won’t get bored all day, buy colouring books and crayons. Get bread, jam and everything to make sandwiches that will get you out of trouble when Weasel is hungry during the day or night; get veggies, pasta noodles and don't know, make sure your pantry is stocked. Get juice, low in sugar, for the girls to drink on later and it will help you during breakfast, maybe some yogurt and cereal. Always, remember low in sugar and fat! Read the labels!”

 

Gendry was not moving, just processing all the information.

 

“Weasel, your brother is a little slow, isn’t he?” the girls giggled at that.

 

“I’m not slow!” he whined

 

“Then why aren’t you going?” she lifted her eyebrow, he needed to calm himself or Barra would start to cry again.

 

“you mean; you can handle them all by yourself?”

 

“Yes! Now go! Weasel needs to eat something!”

 

“Alright, I’ll go!” he finally got up and left, grabbing his keys on the way out.

 

“Alright, Weasel we have a mission!” she declared as she stood up, making Barra laugh with a funny face she made.

 

“You’ll help me, right?” Weasel nodded again, full smile on her face.

 

“Let’s go!”

 

* * *

 

 

He was exhausted and dreading opening his front door. He was taking the bags out of his car, getting everything to do just one trip. He didn’t want to leave Arya alone with the girls any longer, she must be hysterical by now.

 

Even though, she seemed to understand Weasel better than him and Barra finally stopped crying while she was holding her. Gods, how lucky he was to find Arya free, he was so desperate when he called her earlier, praying to the gods that she didn’t go out today.

 

He’d known Arya since they were little, she being the sister of his best friends and well, she was his best friend. He may sometimes feel something for her that went a little bit beyond and people always assumed they were a couple, when they weren’t. Even her brothers had asked him why they didn’t date… which meant he could date her, they’d given permission, but he never knew if she liked him the way he liked her. Even when sometimes they acted in a more intimate way than just a regular friendship, but he always thought that maybe it wasn’t just the right time for them to… be something.

 

But now it wasn’t time to think about that, it was time to face the nightmare that was handling a baby and a five-year-old girl so he opened the door and was left in shock.

 

His apartment was neat, clean and Weasel was sitting on the couch watching My Little Pony on TV, Arya and Barra where nowhere to be seen until he heard his bedroom door opening and Arya coming out of it.

 

“Hey, you’re back! I managed to get the baby to sleep, already changed her diaper and cleaned the place a bit. I suppose Weasel will sleep on Edric’s room so I changed the sheets; I also changed yours, by the way. I put them on the washer, one load is already on the dryer. The kitchen is clean too” she said all smiles and he couldn’t do anything but placing everything on the table and going in to hug her.

 

“You’re amazing!” he yelled as she smacked him before covering his mouth with her hand “Shhh, you’re going to wake the baby” she smiled and he hugged her tighter and kissed her on the head.

 

“I’d be dead without you” it was true, he could not live without her.

 

“I know, now let’s eat!”

 

* * *

 

 

Somehow  Arya had managed to clean his entire house, calm Barra and get her to sleep, make Weasel laugh and prepared lunch. Actually lunch was rotisserie chicken that he brought from the store, Weasel loved chicken and Arya told him to buy something with chicken and he did! Weasel had a knack for rotisserie chicken because that was something Mya always bought when things got out of hand and she didn’t have time to cook. So they had chicken with some veggies Arya found in his fridge, she steamed them and made some mashed potatoes and that was lunch! Best lunch he’s had in ages!

 

Now Weasel was happily watching Frozen and he was standing dumbly in his kitchen watching Arya cooking and making stuff.

 

“I assume the girls are going to stay with you for a few days, right?”

 

“Yeah, Stannis won’t arrive until next week”

 

“Okay” was all she said as she continued to chop things

 

“What are you doing?!” he had to ask and she laughed.

 

“I’m saving your butt. I’m prepping some meals for you to have on hand, you only have to reheat them in the next few days since yours and Edric's idea of cooking is eating only steak and pizza. Your menu will be pomodoro pasta, chicken with some veggies and lasagne. Freeze them and when it’s dinner time put them on the microwave and done. I only know how to make pasta… but everyone likes pasta, right? If you like more protein just add some chicken or sausage, whatever Weasel prefers”

 

“Thank you, Arya you…” the dryer rang announcing the end of the cycle

 

“Get that out and fold them, wash the rest of your clothing” and he did as she said and then came back, Arya was placing the food in containers “all done” she declared as she finished cleaning “now it needs to cool down before freezing it”

 

He observed her sitting down and he took a sit in front of her on the table “you’ve never taken care of the girls alone before, haven’t you?” he shook his head in embarrassment.

 

“When Barra was born I had already moved out and Mya is always taking care of her, I only know how to handle Edric and the twins since they are all boys.

 

“That’s not right, Gendry. Mya alone can’t be in charge of the baby, Weasel and the twins with only Bella’s help. You can’t just handle Edric and sometimes the twins and think that’s enough. Mya needs to live her life too, she just works and takes care of you all! Bella also needs to be able to have a breather!”

 

“I know, It’s just…”

 

“You can’t even understand your sister, that means you don’t spend much time with her… you scared her with your meltdown!” he ruffled his hair again.

 

“I know! It’s just, I always thought it was enough like Mya taking care of the girls and me of the guys and today I realised it wasn’t! I’m the worst brother ever, I couldn’t handle Barra and you… you… how did you do it? Getting the place clean and getting Barra to sleep?” she shrugged in response

 

“I asked Weasel to help me picking stuff, she’s very diligent you just need to be patient with her and make it a game. But you can’t just freak out again, your screams were one of the factors that got Barra crying, she sensed it and got nervous”

 

“I’m not good with kids”

 

“you’ll get better. Now, to keep them happy and entertained you need to take them out somewhere tomorrow. The park or the zoo, someplace the kids would have a good time”

 

“Will you come with me?” he asked her hopefully, he wasn’t ready to take the kids alone by himself, his hand went to reach hers across the table.

 

“Yes, I’ll go with you” she smiled and squeezed his hand a little in a reassuring gesture.

 

“I have no way of repaying you…”

 

“We’ll figure something out” she winked an eye at him and smiled. They spent a moment looking each other in the eyes when he felt a tug at his shirt, craning his head to the side he found Weasel looking up at him. He glanced at Arya, who was looking directly at him, arms crossed and brow lifted testing how he’ll handle his sister.

 

Alright, he needed to understand his sister.

 

“Weasel, are you okay?” the girl just kept looking at him, so he did what he usually saw Mya do. He lifted Weasel and placed her in his lap “do you want something?” she nodded pointing the sink. The sink?

 

“Are you thirsty?” she nodded again “Alright!” he stood up, carrying her in his arms, he grabbed a plastic cup “What do you want? Water?” he pointed towards the sink again “Or do you want apple juice?” he pointed to the juice box and she went to grab his hand at that, meaning she wanted the juice?

 

“Juice?” she smiled “Juice it is!” he laughed at her while pouring some juice on her plastic cup, placing the cap on it as he handed it back to her “Want to go back to your movie?” she nodded smiling “alright, go” he put her down so she could continue watching her movie. He was smiling, he was happy because he’d managed to understand his little sister but then there was a tug again, this time in his hand, and when he looked down the girl walked a few steps not letting his hand go.

 

“I think someone wants to watch a movie with you” Arya laughed softly “Let’s go, Gen. We should watch Frozen” and he did that, he lifted his free hand towards Arya, who took it smiling, and both were guided towards the couch by Weasel.

 

He sat down and Weasel snugged to his left, she was so tiny against his huge frame and Arya sat next to him, not letting go of his hand so he intertwined their fingers, lifting it up to place a kiss on the back of her hand. 

 

They were there, watching a movie together like if this was something they were all used to do together

 

“Uhhh Elsa is about to sing!” Arya said very excited. Honestly, he’d never watched this movie as he wasn’t fond of animated pictures but being there on the couch with his little sister snugged against him and Arya on his other side was something so… right. He had this warm feeling. Was this a normal family situation? He didn’t know, his family wasn’t very normal and he’d been alone most of the time. But this! This was something he could get used to! A movie with two of his favourite girls in the world.

 

He closed his eyes in delight and sighted happily. Maybe this weekend wouldn’t be that hard. 

 

* * *

 

He found himself waking up with a jump. Shit! He drifted off to sleep! He shouldn’t do that!

There was a laugh coming from the kitchen so he stood up and found Arya and Weasel there, Arya was making something

 

“Welcome back to the land of the living!” Arya laughed as he entered the kitchen.

 

“What are you doing? How long was I sleep?”

 

“Not much, I’m making some sandwiches so we eat something before Weasel takes a bath and then off too bed, right?” Weasel smiled nodding.

 

“Gods, I was out so hard!”

 

“And you snore, we could barely watch the movie! Right Weasel?” both girls were laughing hard as Arya handed Weasel a sandwich, pouring some milk for his sister.

 

“So, tomorrow we’re going to the zoo. Would you like that Weasel?” He asked his sister “Maybe we can see some other weasels!” she laughed. Her sister’s name wasn’t actually Weasel, it was a nickname his father had given her because she had a long complicated name, and as a baby Weasel did look like a weasel, but a really cute one.

 

They snacked, watched TV and played with Weasel for a while.

 

“Alright, while I clean this up you go and make sure she takes a bath with warm water, not cold not hot. Tie her hair because I’m sure you don’t have a hair dryer here and if she sleeps with wet hair she’ll surely catch a cold again, so that’s for tomorrow morning” Arya indicated him as she handed him some towels. He was terrified, he’d never bathe his sister, what if he drowned her?!

 

“Don’t be scared! It’ll be alright since she’ll guide you, now go!” she pointed him towards the bathroom and he walked to it with Weasel in one arm, gods he prayed everything to be alright.

 

* * *

 

 

He had survived! He had just tugged Weasel into bed! He sighed as he closed the door of the bedroom.

 

“See? It wasn’t that bad? You just need patience and you’ll get the hang of it soon” Arya was smiling but then there was a cry, Barra had woken up and colour drained from his face.

 

“C’mon big guy, we need to see what Barra wants” and Arya went inside his bedroom where he had placed the crib.

 

A diaper change later, Barra was still crying so that’d mean she was hungry.

 

“I need to heat some milk for her…” he said.

 

“Okay, I can have her while you go” he placed Barra softly in Arya’s arms and went to the kitchen to put a baby bottle in the microwave. Once he got a handle of Weasel it was plain easy, you just needed patience but taking care of Barra terrified him.

 

He went back to the living room to find Arya standing and cradling Barra in soft little motions which had made the baby calm down. That picture of Arya with a baby in her arms was just so… incredible it took his breath away and made this warm feeling in his chest come back.

 

“How are you so good at this?” he asked her dumbfounded. Arya was a natural at all this.

 

“It’s just when mum and dad passed away, Rickon was still a kid and well I had to help, right? That all about taking care of Weasel is how I remember Robb, Jon, Sansa and even Theon took care of me, Bran and Rickon. Sometimes me and Sansa babysit Robb’s babies and Sansa is really good at it, I just copy what she does”

 

“You’re just amazing, you’re so natural at this” he walked towards her and she looked up smiling.

 

“Guess it’s like practice. When it’s my turn to have kids it’ll be a little bit easier, right?” her smile was still there and he almost dropped the bottle.

 

It wasn’t the vision in his head with Arya and her future babies what surprised him, it was the fact that he imagined Arya’s babies as HIS babies. He made his way towards her, slowly until he was in front, baby Barra in the middle of them.

 

Slowly he lifted his hand to cup her face, his thumb caressing her cheek. Her eyes were surprised. He broke the eye contact as his gaze drifted to her lips and he felt himself leaning until he was just mere millimetres away from kissing her.

 

He found himself whispering her name before their mouths met, it was a soft kiss. A kiss where he wanted to tell her everything he couldn’t put into words yet, how much she meant to him. That he didn’t only see her as a friend but something more.

 

His brain was shutting off entirely until he heard a laugh, a baby’s laugh, which made him pull apart to see Barra laughing looking up to both of them. His eyes went back to Arya, who was smiling and biting her lip.

 

“Barra, would you mind if I kiss Arya one more time?” the baby chuckled again and Arya laughed with her before he bent down to capture her lips once again feeling her smile in the kiss. It was a quick and soft kiss as Barra laughed again, this time harder making both of them laugh with her.

 

“Seems someone liked this” Arya said, a little tease in her voice and he wasn’t entirely sure if she was talking about herself or if she was talking about little Barra who was now happy demanding her milk bottle.

 

“You liked this Barra?” he asked the baby, while glancing towards Arya.

 

“Oh yeah, she definitely did. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind you doing it again” he chuckled this time, leaning again to peck her on the lips.

 

“Trust me, I’ll be doing it all the time. Can’t believe I’ve waited this long”

 

“I’m sure Barra is wondering the same” he laughed as Arya handed him the baby so he could be the one who feeds her.

 

Both moved to the couch until Barra finished her bottle and this time he remembered to get the gas out of her. It took a while until the baby felt asleep in his arms.

 

“I’ll take her to her crib” he said as he lifted up and went to his bedroom, placing the baby softly in the crib he bought that same day. He was absolutely sure he had a dumb smile on his face he couldn’t shake off.

 

He went back to the living room where Arya was still sitting on one of the couches, he plopped down next to her, embracing her with one of his arms as she snugged against him.

 

“Quite a day, huh?”

 

“Great day” he answered as he kissed the top of her head.

 

“It was, wasn’t it?” she smiled cheekly as she lifted to kiss him again. Oh yeah, this was the greatest day ever. They were making out for a while until they heard the door of Edric’s room open, both pulling apart quickly. Weasel came out of it as she went to the bathroom and a few minutes later the girl went back to her room.

 

“So I guess It’s time for me to go home”

 

“You can stay night…” he said with an innocent meaning behind! he was planning on sleeping on the couch but Arya’s lifted brown told him she was thinking that he was implying something else with his proposal.

 

“As far as that Is tempting we need to set a good example or Mya would kill us” that was true “I’ll be back for breakfast and then we take the girls to the zoo”

 

“okay” he kissed her again, he couldn’t help it “Gods, I’ve wanted to that for so long, you have no idea. Today, seeing you with the girls and all you did I just couldn’t help it any longer. I like you Arya and not only as a friend”

 

“you better like me more than just a friend since I like you too, it took you a while to act on it” she pecked him again “I’m leaving, see you tomorrow” she bolted to the door after giving him one last kiss. Just as she closed the door he was already missing her but he’ll see her tomorrow as they take the girls to have some fun.

 

He cleaned the place a bit, set everything for breakfast tomorrow morning,  got the girls their outfit for tomorrow, as Arya told him he had to do beforehand, turned off the lights and went to bed.

 

He couldn’t actually believe this whole day; he was exhausted but it was a good day in the end. It may had started as a nightmare with Barra crying and Weasel hiding but once Arya got here it all solved, she solved everything. She was so great handling Barra and understanding Weasel, she was also good friends with Mya and Bella, Edric actually respected her and like only respected five people in total.

 

His mind kept playing scenarios in his head, it had been since he saw Arya cradling Barra a while ago. He pictured Arya with a baby, a baby with dark hair and grey eyes like her, their baby…

 

Gods, was he just crazy imagining it the same day they kissed for the first time? He was in his bed thinking about Arya, smiling silly as something moved against him, shifting the covers.

 

“Can’t sleep Weasel?” he asked softly as his little sister snugged against him, her little head using his arm as a pillow.

 

“You like Arya, don’t you?” he felt her nodding her little head against him “I like her too” a soft giggle escaped from her.

 

“Hey, don’t tease me!” he shifted a little to hug her “Do you think Arya would like to go out with me?” he was perfectly sure she’d go out with him, but he needed some reassuring that came from the nod he felt against his arm.

 

"Am I getting better at this older brother stuff?" there was a nod again and the a soft little kiss in his cheek, that would make him grin for days he was sure of it.

 

“When you’re older and I need a babysitter for my kids with Arya, would you do it?” there was no answer at that because he was betting his sister already drifted off to sleep and he soon followed her as the events of the day caught up to him once again.

 

He was looking forward for tomorrow, he was looking forward to get better at this big brother stuff, he was looking forward to start things with Arya and he was looking forward for the day Weasel and Barra would babysit for him. Oh yeah, he was already planning ahead.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This bizarre thing came to mind. 
> 
> Don’t know from where and just decided to post it for the sake of it. 
> 
> I know Weasel isn’t a Baratheon but since she interacted with Arya and Gendry on the books and Robert was supposed to have fathered sixteen kids I just decided to shift things a little and make her one of those kids in order for Gendry to have a younger sister around the age of five.


End file.
